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Although now required by California law, ethnic studies courses likely to be met with resistance

  • Written by Nolan L. Cabrera, Associate Professor of Education, University of Arizona
imageSally Chen, an organizer with the Harvard Ethnic Studies Coalition, speaks through a megaphone during a rally with other students in 2019.David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

In August 2020, California passed a law that requires college students in the state university system to take an ethnic studies course in order to graduate. In...

Read more: Although now required by California law, ethnic studies courses likely to be met with resistance

California voters decide Uber and Lyft drivers are 'contractors' as gig workers continue search for a livable wage

  • Written by Juliet B. Schor, Professor of Sociology, Boston College
imageProposition 22 reverses a 2019 state law.AP Photo/Richard Vogel

Uber, TaskRabbit and other ride-hailing and delivery service companies in California can keep classifying their workers as independent contractors rather than employees after California voters approved a measure known as Proposition 22, according to the state’s still-unofficial...

Read more: California voters decide Uber and Lyft drivers are 'contractors' as gig workers continue search...

The International Space Station at 20 offers hope and a template for future cooperation

  • Written by Wendy Whitman Cobb, Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, US Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies
imageA STS-134 crew member on the space shuttle Endeavour took this photo of the ISS after the station and shuttle began their separation.NASA

On Nov. 2, 2020, the International Space Station celebrated its 20th anniversary of continuous human occupation. With astronauts and cosmonauts from around the world working together, the ISS has demonstrated...

Read more: The International Space Station at 20 offers hope and a template for future cooperation

Even if you're asymptomatic, COVID-19 can harm your heart, study shows – here's what student athletes need to know

  • Written by Partho Sengupta, Abnash C Jain Chair and Professor of Cardiology, Cardiology Division Chief and Director of Cardiac Imaging, West Virginia University
imageOver one-third of college athletes in the study who tested positive for COVID-19 had evidence of inflammation around the heart.Miodrag Ignjatovic via Getty Images

COVID-19 can do some pretty scary things to the human heart. It can trigger blood clots in severe cases and cause inflammation and scarring.

New research now shows that even young people...

Read more: Even if you're asymptomatic, COVID-19 can harm your heart, study shows – here's what student...

An embarrassing failure for election pollsters

  • Written by W. Joseph Campbell, Professor of Communication Studies, American University School of Communication
imageWatching the presidential election returns on election night in retirement community of The Villages, Florida.Ricardo Arduengo/AFP via Getty Images

Election polling is facing yet another reckoning following its uneven-at-best performance in this year’s voting.

Although the outcome in the 2020 presidential race remained uncertain the next day,...

Read more: An embarrassing failure for election pollsters

History tells us that a contested election won't destroy American democracy

  • Written by Alexander Cohen, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Clarkson University
imageTrump falsely declaring a win in the early hours of Nov. 4, 2020, the day after the US election, as ballot counting continued in Pennsylvania and other battleground states. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

With the outcome of the 2020 presidential election still hanging on the uncounted votes in a handful of battleground states, President Donald...

Read more: History tells us that a contested election won't destroy American democracy

Who invented the Electoral College?

  • Written by Phillip J VanFossen, J.F. Ackerman Professor of Social Studies Education; Director, Ackerman Center; Associate Director, Purdue Center for Economic Education, Purdue University
imageA transcript from the Constitutional Convention records the official report creating the Electoral College.U.S. National Archives, CC BY-NC-ND

The delegates in Philadelphia agreed, in the summer of 1787, that the new country they were creating would not have a king but rather an elected executive. But they did not agree on how to choose that...

Read more: Who invented the Electoral College?

'Rainbow wave' of LGBTQ candidates run and win in 2020 election

  • Written by Timothy R. Bussey, Associate Director for the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Kenyon College
imageLGBTQ candidates made strides on Tuesday.Marc Bruxelle / EyeEm

More LGBTQ candidates ran for office in the United States in 2020 than ever before – at least 1,006. That’s a 41% increase over the 2018 midterms, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund.

While an estimated 5% of the U.S. population identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual,...

Read more: 'Rainbow wave' of LGBTQ candidates run and win in 2020 election

A Q A with a historian of presidential polls

  • Written by W. Joseph Campbell, Professor of Communication Studies, American University School of Communication
imageVoters wait to cast their ballots Tuesday at Johnston Elementary School in the Wilkinsburg neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

“Epic miscalls and landslides unforeseen: The exceptional catalog of polling failure” is the headline on one of scholar W. Joseph Campbell’s recent stories for The...

Read more: A Q A with a historian of presidential polls

'Wait and see' is an unsatisfying – but accurate – way to present election results

  • Written by John M. Murphy, Professor of Communication, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
imageIt's hard to be patient. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Telling kids on Christmas Eve that they have to be patient to find out what gifts they might receive doesn’t make them happy. The same idea didn’t make many adults happy on election night 2020, either. For 100 years, media of many kinds tried to be the first with the most results.

That...

Read more: 'Wait and see' is an unsatisfying – but accurate – way to present election results

More Articles ...

  1. A history of contested presidential elections, from Samuel Tilden to Al Gore
  2. Election night has been a big media event since electric lights first announced the winner in 1892
  3. Death rates have fallen by 18% for hospitalized COVID–19 patients as treatments improve
  4. In supporting same-sex civil unions, Pope Francis is showing how the Catholic definition of what constitutes a family is changing
  5. Only the richest ancient Athenians paid taxes – and they bragged about it
  6. Poor US pandemic response will reverberate in health care politics for years, health scholars warn
  7. In supporting civil unions for same sex couples, Pope Francis is moving Catholics toward a more expansive understanding of family
  8. How schools can reduce parents' anxiety during the pandemic
  9. Magnetism of Himalayan rocks reveals the mountains' complex tectonic history
  10. Feeling disoriented by the election, pandemic and everything else? It's called 'zozobra,' and Mexican philosophers have some advice
  11. The pitfalls of hospitals seeking donations from their rich patients
  12. Why questions (good and bad) matter
  13. Why graduates of elite universities dominate the Time 100 – and what it means for the rest of us
  14. On screen and on stage, disability continues to be depicted in outdated, cliched ways
  15. How tech firms have tried to stop disinformation and voter intimidation – and come up short
  16. A few heavy storms cause a big chunk of nitrogen pollution from Midwest farms
  17. What Day of the Dead tells us about the Aztec philosophy of happiness
  18. What it's like to lose a presidential election
  19. You have rights when you go to vote - and many people are there to help if there's trouble at the polls
  20. You have rights when you go to vote – and many people are there to help if there's trouble at the polls
  21. The scariest things in the universe are black holes – and here are 3 reasons
  22. 100 years ago, the first commercial radio broadcast announced the results of the 1920 election – politics would never be the same
  23. Cahokian culture spread across eastern North America 1,000 years ago in an early example of diaspora
  24. How to be a good digital citizen during the election – and its aftermath
  25. From Trump to Trudeau, the escalator is a favorite symbol of political campaigns
  26. 5 reasons not to underestimate far-right extremists
  27. Why there's so much legal uncertainty about resolving a disputed presidential election
  28. Most surprising thing about a new report showing climate change imperils the US financial system is that the report even exists
  29. Studies link COVID-19 deaths to air pollution, raising questions about EPA's 'acceptable risk'
  30. Why scientists and public health officials need to address vaccine mistrust instead of dismissing it
  31. The Black Church has been getting 'souls to the polls' for more than 60 years
  32. Is tax avoidance ethical? Asking for a friend
  33. Ransomware can interfere with elections and fuel disinformation – basic cybersecurity precautions are key to minimizing the damage
  34. The US economy's record swings: 4 essential reads
  35. Want to teach kids about nature? Insects can help
  36. Rumors of Chris Pratt's being a 'MAGA Bro' show how Twitter's trending function can go haywire
  37. Why Americans are so enamored with election polls
  38. To save threatened plants and animals, restore habitat on farms, ranches and other working lands
  39. How 'strategic' bias keeps Americans from voting for women and candidates of color
  40. Will Russia influence the American vote?
  41. American suburbs radically changed over the decades – and so have their politics
  42. Gig worker employment fights like those in California pit flexibility against a livable wage – but 'platform cooperatives' could ensure workers get both
  43. Google antitrust case suggests Apple should be in the Department of Justice’s crosshairs too
  44. Halloween isn't about candy and costumes for modern-day pagans – witches mark Halloween with reflections on death as well as magic
  45. Why sleep experts say it's time to ditch daylight saving time
  46. On Twitter, bots spread conspiracy theories and QAnon talking points
  47. People's bodies now run cooler than 'normal' – even in the Bolivian Amazon
  48. For a growing number of evangelical Christians, Trump is no longer the lesser of two evils
  49. Cigarette smoke can reprogram cells in your airways, causing COPD to hang on after smoking ends
  50. Achieving COVID-19 herd immunity through infection is dangerous, deadly and might not even work